New NZX boss revealed

NZX has appointed Singapore based New Zealander Tim Bennett to take over from Mark Weldon as its chief executive.

Bennett has almost 20 years' financial services consulting experience, the majority of which has been in Asia where his most recent role has been as a partner in Oliver Wyman's Retail and Business Banking practice.

He has advised a broad range of financial institutions on topics from strategy and organisational transformation through mergers and acquisitions. A particular area of focus has been financial markets, where he has worked with a number of different exchanges, governments and private companies in expanding domestic capital markets and developing new asset classes.

NZX says Bennett will provide a continued focus on strengthening NZX's domestic markets, while building its strategic options, particularly via the company's integrated information, markets and infrastructure offerings. This dual strategy, which combines development of New Zealand's equities markets alongside complementary diversification into other domestic and offshore markets, has seen NZX's performance outstrip global peers in recent years, NZX says in a statement.